http://mmajunkie.comRIO DE JANEIRO – Jon Fitch did everything he could, over and over again, to get a stoppage.

But one of the most criticized fighters in the UFC still needed all three rounds to get back in the win column. Fitch beat Erick Silva by unanimous decision to get back in the win column.

The welterweight bout was part of the main card of Saturday’s UFC 153 event at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Silva looked to get off to one of his typical quick starts, landing a knee. But Fitch, a former collegiate wrestler at Purdue, was able to take Silva down and took his back. Fitch controlled things on the ground and eventually got to Silva’s back. He rode his back and worked big punches before Silva peeled his foot off.

But Fitch quickly dragged things back to the ground, where he looked for an arm triangle. Once Silva was able to get back to his feet, he landed a good front kick to the body, then one that just missed. But he followed with a good right hand. The two battled back and forth on the feet before Fitch again got a takedown with a minute left in the first.

In the second, Fitch landed a nice uppercut. But a Silva sweep took Fitch to the ground, and there, Silva looked to take the Indiana native’s back. Looking for Fitch’s right arm, Silva wasn’t able to maintain and Fitch escaped momentarily. But after a brief time back on the feet, Silva got back to the ground and looked for a rear-naked choke. Fitch was able to separate Silva’s hands to masterfully defend, then turned the bad position around and looked to ground-and-pound from the top.

Fitch then took Silva’s back, and when his corner called for an armbar, Fitch quickly grabbed Silva’s left arm and looked to finish as the clock ticked down. But Silva turned out of it and survived the second round.

In the third, Fitch landed an early takedown and Silva appeared to be out of gas. Fitch began pounding away from the top, then took Silva’s back and landed more punches. Still, Silva survived. Then he reversed the position and got an arm-in guillotine, though Fitch quickly signaled to the referee he was fine. Then he began to land more punches from the top when Silva couldn’t hold the choke. With 1:40 left in the fight, Fitch got to back mount and started hammering away.

But though he appeared imminently close to getting a stoppage throughout much of the third round, another Fitch victory went 15 minutes. When Fitch wins, eight in a row now have come by decision. His last stoppage victory came in June 2007. The American Kickboxing Academy fighter often is criticized for his grinding style and long streak of decisions in his victories.

“I would’ve beat anybody tonight. My family needed this win, and I needed this win. So I had to do what I had to do,” said Fitch, who recently became a father. “I knew I was safe there (when Silva had the choke). I’m extremely difficult to finish. If he wasn’t working to gain top position, he was wasting energy underneath me. I just can’t wait to get back home to see my family.”

Fitch (24-4-1 MMA, 14-2-1 UFC) got back in the win column after a 12-second knockout loss to Johny Hendricks this past December. Silva (14-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) falls back to even in the UFC after a June “Submission of the Night” win over Charlie Brenneman.

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